“Your father died?” Laynah asked as I sat with her on the bark-slat porch outside her home. Laynah had become my friend during my family’s earliest months in Papua New Guinea. Our grass-roofed hut had been right across the narrow dirt road from hers when we had lived...
Our West African friends Momodou and Laye are brilliant and fun-loving men. In his late fifties, Momodou has a satirical sense of humor, which reminds me of my brother Steve. Laye is much younger, about 30. He’s a sweet and kind gentleman, like my husband Chocho. Both...
The field behind our house looked like a lake, and every day we heard the squeals and laughter of village children enjoying a swim. It was rainy season, and the usually dry ground was overflowing with water. One morning we woke to the news that a child had drowned....
Many individuals, couples, and families are in their final stages of preparing for cross-cultural ministry. Please uphold them in prayer for the needs and challenges mentioned below — and in whatever other ways the Lord prompts you. Many of these missionaries will be...
Many Pioneer Bible Translators personnel are currently — or soon will be — in their first term of cross-cultural ministry. Newly arrived missionaries face a vast array of challenges as they settle into their new homes and ministries. We invite you to pray...
Baby Steps A Bible translator in Papua New Guinea spends his or her early years becoming a child again. Or so it seems. Most of us arrive here having spent the better part of our lives getting an education. When we move to a rural village, though, we essentially...
This poem portrays a person wrestling with their calling, with the trials they've faced, and with the unknown trials ahead. Two different voices speak to the weary pilgrim: the voice of the Liar, our spiritual enemy, and the voice of the Lord. Turn back, turn back,...
I hate bugs. No, I’m not the kind of person who goes into hysterics every time I see a spider. I can usually keep my cool. But still — the sight of one gives me an unpleasant shudder and a wish to be somewhere far away. Somewhere where spiders never existed. “If the...
9 Ways to Pray for Third Culture Kids Third culture kids (TCKs), also known as MKs, have both the privilege and the challenge of growing up in their family’s place of ministry. Here are ways you can pray for TCKs, especially the children in missionary families you...
I was sitting on a woven mat in a bamboo-walled house with other people who were talking in a language I did not know. I had no idea what they were talking about, so not surprisingly, I felt a bit lonely. Another time I was conversing with people in a language we all...
I send you out as sheep among the wolves, yet take no staff And bring no sturdy sandals for this steep and narrow path. You’ll be accused, yet make no plan in your defense to speak. You’ll hunger, yet your purse and plow and fields – behind you, leave. I send you out,...
Many of our overseas workers live in places with limited access to goods and services that much of the world’s population take for granted. During a recent visit, the mother of one of our teammates saw stark differences between her home country and the rural location...